Frost
by uiop12092
Summary: Present time. The remnants of SHIELD face more and more dangerous enemies. To even the odds, Daisy Johnson is searching for new members to add to her secret team of powerful Inhumans. Together with Lincoln and Joey, the new team adventures into the extreme environment of Antarctica to find someone she thought she lost...
1. Aerial Approach

**SEASON 3 SPOILERS**

 **Summary: The remnants of S.H.I.E.L.D. face more powerful threats with each passing day. In an attempt to even the odds, agent Daisy Johnson has started to form a team of fellow Inhumans to help take down larger threats. Possessing powers that they've only begun to control, the Secret Warriors search for other Inhumans, before they meet a worse fate at the hands of their enemies...**

 **Returning to Fanfiction after a while, feedback is greatly appreciated.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or any of the characters used.**

* * *

"We are eight minutes from the drop zone!" May yelled back from the cockpit.

Skye gazed down and tugged the sleeves of her fitted black suit. She pushed a little against the safety belts that kept her securely in her seat. The grey eagle mascot of S.H.I.E.L.D. stood out prominently on the shoulder. The other inhabitants of the loading bay wore matching outfits. Outside the Arctic winds were pummeling the plane at hundreds of miles per hour.

"Are we sure about this?" Lincoln now, fastened securely in his seat against the hanger bay walls of Zephyr One. Skye struggled to see the details of his face in the dim reddish lighting.

"We have to check."

"Someone you knew?"

"You could say that."

"Are we sure he's alive?"

She chose not to answer back.

"I think Fitz has finished the analyzing the scans we took earlier," said Joey, gesturing with his head to the overhead screen.

Skye checked. The mounted TV Coulson had installed for briefings showed a zoomed in view of the desolate frozen landscape they were about to jump into. As she watched different layers of the ice were highlighted in different colors. The thicker parts were shown in shades of green. The edges were marked very clearly in red. She knew that outside, the plane's powerful sensors were battling through the snow to get a clear picture of the ground beneath. In the top right corner she spied a small revolving globe, marked with the ocean currents that had led her to plan this mission.

It felt like so long ago, poised on the upper levels of the cargo ship. Rifle in hand, aiming down at the deck below her. At him. A Shield academy student turned agent, turned traitor. She replayed him falling into the water in her mind, with him reeling back with the power of the shot. The ice forming around him. Falling into the North Atlantic Ocean. The official report saying that no body had been found in the watery depths. She had been hoping since then, beyond hope…

On the slightest chance he might be alive.

Fitz appeared in the doorway, clutching a tablet computer in one hand and the railing in the other to keep himself steady in the rocking plane. "Just remember," he said, breaking her thoughts,"we can't give you that much time. Your calculations with the ocean currents have narrowed the area you'll have to cover, but it's still massive. Your uniforms are as warm as I can make them, which means you'll be fine on the surface, but-"

"-water will pose a serious risk of hypothermia." She finished promptly.

Fitz nodded. "The conditions are too severe to land the plane, but we'll send down a containment module to ferry you all back up."

The trio-Daisy, Lincoln, and Joey-nodded in unison.

Joey pulled his thick fur-lined hood tighter. "Daisy's simulation showed this guy, Donnie, as having a possibly frozen underneath almost a dozen feet of harder-than-concrete ice. How would we get him out then?"

Fitz gestured to the grey drawstring bag by Lincoln's feet. "Specialized explosives. Just enough to clear away enough of the ice that we can haul him out with the plane after you send back the all-clear. We'll be circling out in calmer airspace until then."

"One more thing," said Joey again, bouncing against the all-too-tight seat-belt with nervous anticipation.

"Mmhmm?" Answered Fitz.

"Just in case...should we take those weapons you've been designing for us?" Joey asked hopefully.

Fitz cracked a smile. "Still in progress, though I'm sure you'll find the Icers in your packs more than capable."

Joey did his best not to look too disappointed. Lincoln turned in his seat as Simmons walked up to stand beside Fitz, placing an arm around his waist.

"I added a few high-energy foods to each of your packs," she said, gazing at the trio, "you'll need them." She gazed up at Fitz, "we should head in, we've almost arrived."

Fitz nodded, and together with Simmons wished the team good luck before heading back through the sliding door. The light above it turned from green to red as it locked in place.

Daisy, Lincoln, and Joey glanced at each other from across the wide space. The roof sat high above them, supported by the internal metal frame of the plane. Daisy sat on the left side, while the two guys sat on the right. Between them was a large grey-white package, a secure storage box, with its huge parachute carefully strapped on top. It was roughly the size of a small car, and contained ground transportation in the form of snowmobiles which were specially designed by Fitz, and temporary shelter if they were caught in a blizzard.

There was a burst of static overhead before May's voice came in again over the intercom.

"Two minutes!"

Daisy thanked her S.H.I.E.L.D. training as she unbuckled herself from her seat, stood, and stretched before double-checking that her parachute was properly packed and strapped to her, before doing the same for Lincoln and Joey. Sparky's hair was beginning to stand on end, and tiny shocks arced between his foot and the floor every time he raised it. She smiled at their nervousness. They slipped on masks to protect themselves from the wind and to help with visibility on the ground. Fitz had also included oxygen cylinders in their packs for the jump, that could be used also once they landed to help with breathing in the stark conditions.

"First jump for an operation?"

"Yeah," they both answered staring at each other through their masks in unease.

"Don't worry, you'll love it."

They stood in the Zephyr One's loading bay, waiting for the door to lower, the briefing screen throwing up shadows of them onto the packaged snowmobiles.

Daisy gestured to hand-holds along the side for the other two to hold onto.

"The package is going to slide off first and automatically deploy its parachute once it reaches a certain altitude." started Daisy, in a rehearsed tone.

Joey continued, "We have to wait until we know it has passed a safe distance from the plane before jumping ourselves"

Lincoln finished, "and then we have to find it once on the ground."

"Right, both of you." Daisy relaxed a little, leaning against the aircraft's wall. She missed the Bus.

The intercom again. "20 seconds!"

A series of low beeps growing progressively louder echoed through the confined area as the loading bay door started to lower, drastically lowering the temperature of the space and introducing a bright white light that flooded in through her mask. She shivered. Between the warning sounds of the now fully open door and the howling wind she could hear nothing else.

She signaled to Joey and Lincoln with her hands. They nodded.

She outstretched her palm and concentrated. The rectangular container started slipping down the hangar door. She gave it a final push with her powers as it exited the plane and was caught by the wind, whisked away by its strength. She glanced up at the screen, which now showed Zephyr One in red, their outlines in cobalt blue, and the package quickly falling away in sapphire.

The screen switched again to the breakdown of their target landing area. It was still glowing a bright emerald, thick enough to support their landing.

She checked her watch, knowing they were doing the same. Daisy held up her hands, all five fingers up. One by one she lowered them.

Then she closed her fist, let go of the handhold, and got a running start down the metallic flooring of the plane, boots echoing against the floor, her team close behind her.

And they jumped into the white abyss, snatched away by the swirling vortex.


	2. Soft Landing

**SEASON 3 SPOILERS**

 **Summary: The remnants of S.H.I.E.L.D. face more powerful threats with each passing day. In an attempt to even the odds, agent Daisy Johnson has started to form a team of fellow Inhumans to help take down larger threats. Possessing powers that they've only begun to control, the Secret Warriors search for other Inhumans, before they meet a worse fate at the hands of their enemies...**

 **Returning to Fanfiction after a while, feedback is greatly appreciated.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or any of the characters used.**

* * *

She was immediately enveloped in the wind.

And she felt exhilarated and free.

Time stretched.

Her limbs were numb.

Somewhere behind her was Lincoln and Joey.

She blinked.

The mask bit into her nose. Her uniform clung tight to her body, insulating her from the cold. She was hurtling toward the ground at terminal velocity, over a hundred miles per hour, over six hundred feet per second. She watched the number climb higher and higher in the digital display of her watch, blinking a few times to make sure she was reading it correctly. The clouds blurred her vision as she dropped past them, obscuring her sight even through the mask. Her heartbeat soared. All she could see is grey. All she could feel was her body stretching, expanding, she felt her stomach drop as she free fell towards the ground. She screamed, exuberantly. Somewhere above her she thought she could hear Lincoln doing the same, with Joey the loudest of all.

Daisy spread out her arms and legs suddenly, slowing herself down. She had been falling for what? Three seconds? Five? She didn't want it to end.

Peering down at the ground she saw nothing. Experimentally, she tried pushing outwards with her powers. She was rewarded when she found herself spinning with her limbs outstretched like a star towards the right. She grinned, and turned herself around midair to gaze upwards, she spotted the other two twirling and twisting midair. Daisy thought she could see Zephyr One in the distance, but knew it must have passed out of their eyesight long ago. Lincoln suddenly started to dive down, arrow straight, head facing her. Joey mirrored Lincoln, straightening his form and slicing downward.

She was being supported by the wind on her back, but 'sat up' as much as she could with no solid ground, to raise both her arms towards the rapidly approaching black figures. She could make out them doing the same. The wind played with her hair below, as they each took one of her arms, gripping her gloved hands with their own. She straightened out her legs again, behind her. The team formed a circle, arms linked, facing each other, looking at each other as best they could. They passed through clouds, and tightening their grip on each other as they did so to fight off the chill. They passed in and out of sight from each other, though they were holding hands mere feet away.

They let gravity orient themselves to face downwards. They spun slowly, then quicker, trying to even themselves out and keep as stable and flat as possible. Daisy could feel her pack pulling against her shoulders.

She gazed at Lincoln's watch over his elbow on her right. They didn't have much time. She gazed up at her team. They completed another full rotation, before they nodded, fell back, and pushed off against each other, boots meeting simultaneously in the center of what had been their formation. She thought she saw Lincoln do a somersault, and Joey a back flip. They were suspended in the air, almost standing, arms trailing in the wind. Drifting slowly apart to give each other space. She imagined them smiling their heads off behind the black masks. It made her smile behind her own.

She did a flip of her own, a push from her palm, assisted by her powers. Because why waste the opportunity?

The digital display of her watch was blinking. If she could hear over the wind, it would be beeping too. Warning her of the soon approaching ground. She had been unable to see it before. The pack strapped to her body became more evident. Her parachute would automatically deploy once she dropped below a certain altitude, for safety, but Daisy preferred to do it on her own terms. Less of a surprise that way. With a sigh she reached her arms behind her, patting against the material of her pack. Her fingers were numb, but with another stretch she managed to find the cord and with more effort, managed to pull it.

Something large and fast flew past her head, pushing past her hair. Her pack felt lighter, then again everything did in the air.

Her vision tilted sideways, as the black canopy opened over head. Her limbs constricted in protest, as the straps bit into them with the force of the sudden deceleration. The wind stopped howling. Her vision cleared. Somewhere her heart began to slow down. She was exhilarated. Happy. Content. She gazed up. A large black stretch of fabric had unfurled above her head. She was sure she could make out the S.H.I.E.L.D. emblem printed in the center, although, reversed from her perspective beneath it through the fabric.

To her sides she could make out two other parachutes, as well as their inhabitants flailing limbs. They were above her, having deployed their parachutes earlier. Probably at the first blink of their watches, she thought. Rookies. Daisy thought she could make out hair colors from her position, and guessed the one with blonde hair was Lincoln her left, and Joey was on her right. Beyond that, her own parachute obstructed her view.

Below her stretched the Arctic landscape, serene and beautiful. The grey-white world was ready for their approach. It looked flat, from her perspective, easy enough to traverse. Easier still once they located the ground transportation they had dropped before jumping themselves. It shouldn't have landed too far from their own landing location.

Peaceful minutes passed as they drifted slowly with the wind. They steered their parachutes in wide arcs, matching and intersecting each others paths from above and below, trying to get a feel and the best view of the landscape beneath them. The team took the opportunity to eat some of their energy bars and take sips from their water bottles, trying to prepare themselves for their landing.

As the ground fast approached, Daisy straightened her legs, then moved them quickly as she came to a running stop, parachute trailing behind her, before collapsing in the snow. From below she watched as Lincoln and Joey did the same in a synchronized movement, coming to a stop a dozen or so feet ahead on either side of her.

"Did you guys plan that?"

"We're just naturals," responded Lincoln.

"Mmhm."Skye responded, in a disbelieving tone.

They quickly packed their parachutes in their bags and headed off towards the drop location of their other equipment, which was marked with a glowing, pulsing green dot on Daisy's laptop that she pulled from her pack.

* * *

May sighed in the cockpit of Zephyr One. It wasn't the same as the Bus.

She had closed up the loading bay doors as soon as Daisy and her team had jumped and steered the plane off to calmer and higher airspace. Elsewhere in the aircraft, Simmons was readying for any and all medical interventions Zephyr One could handle. Though she was prioritizing treatment for frostbite and hypothermia, they didn't know what state they'd find Donnie in, if he'd be conscious or not, or even if they'd find him. It had been a long time ago, but May had been on that cargo ship also. She remembered nodding as Skye, now Daisy, took her place with the rifle. She remembered signing off on her involvement in his death. Possible death.

Fitz was pouring over the scans he had taken earlier as they had flown over the drop-zone and surrounding area to confirm its location and safety. He was excited, motivated for projects again. A good sign. He had changed when he had come through that portal. Coulson was still shaken.

So far at least, the team on the ground wouldn't be facing any hostile threats, ones that were shooting at them, anyway. None that showed up on their radars and scans, at least.

The computer beeped, May glanced at her radar. But we might. Red dots appeared all around them. Quinjets, at least a dozen. One uncloaked dangerously close to her cockpit window.

Fitz stormed in. Simmons followed after him. Various alarms started to go off throughout the plane, proximity sensors blared, sending flashing orange lights and shrill high pitched shrieks through the plane.

"Buckle up!" May shouted, as the closest Quinjet turned its wing and drifted closer. They were close enough to see the silhouette of the pilot.

She tightened her grip on the controls as she prepared for evasive maneuvers.

Fitz followed her gaze. Simmons let out an involuntary gasp as they took in the decoration on the Quinjet's wing.

HYDRA was cutting them off from the team.

* * *

"It's so empty here." Said Joey, hiking alongside Daisy and Lincoln.

"Peaceful," responded Lincoln.

Their boots crunched against the snow, as they ascended another incline. Daisy froze.

"Did the air over there just shimmer?" Daisy looked quizzically above the pale horizon.

"Could be the Northern Lights," said Lincoln.

"Might be just a regular Antarctica thing," commented Joey, "probably nothing to worry about. Besides, we're almost to the snowmobiles."

"Yeah," said Daisy, not entirely convinced, but she ignored it. "I can't wait to not have to walk."

The snow slowed their progress, and through their suits they could feel some of the below freezing temperatures. The wind had stopped where they were.

They continued towards the package.

Above, a cloaked Quinjet hovered, then turned.

The Quinjet spun off into the twilight.

* * *

 **A/N: Just a reminder, I love feedback! Like the direction the story is going? Have suggestions? I'd love to hear them!**


	3. The Ground Below

**Summary: The remnants of S.H.I.E.L.D. face more powerful threats with each passing day. In an attempt to even the odds, agent Daisy Johnson has started to form a team of fellow Inhumans to help take down larger threats. Possessing powers that they've only begun to control, the Secret Warriors search for other Inhumans, before they meet a worse fate at the hands of their enemies...**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or any of the characters used.**

* * *

It took at least an hour before their ground transportation came into view.

By that time, Joey was confident his lungs had frozen solid, for how little his breathing in and out was taking in air. His lungs could barely expand inside his chest, choosing instead to ache in suffering from the cold. He felt the freezing wind gnaw on his sides as his boots crunched into the ice and his shoulders swung in unison with Lincoln and Daisy.

He had suggested half-serious, earlier, that they sing "100 bottles of milk on the wall" as a way to break up the monotony. Lincoln was not pleased, but but surprisingly it helped more than he would have expected.

"65 bottles of milk on the wall."

"65 bottles of milk."

"Take one down, pass it around."

"64 bottles of milk on the wall."

There was a pause as Daisy finished the last verse and compared the area in front of them to the downloaded scan of the area. A thin line glared red on Daisy's laptop. Blinking stiff eyelashes, Lincoln spotted and pointed out what looked like a dark path connecting thin bridges of ice. They were staring at a crevasse, deep fractures in the ice. Almost invisible with the bridging ice on top. Far deeper than wide. Far more dangerous than they appeared. Not for the first time, Daisy was glad she could rely on her laptop.

"64 bottles of milk on the wall."

"64 frozen milk-cicles."

"That's not how the song goes, Lincoln," responded Daisy admonishingly, clenching her fist to regain some feeling in her hands as she did so.

"It might as well go that way out here" Lincoln muttered.

"He's not wrong." answered Joey, helpfully.

Daisy sighed. The song was starting to get old anyway. They had only agreed to it because the lack of communication with Zephyr One had put everyone on edge. Inclement weather was never good for Comms.

She worried honestly about her role as leader. She glanced back over her shoulder. Joey was kicking his boots against the hard ice. Lincoln was arcing sparks against his gloved fingers. If her senses hadn't been numbed from the cold she was sure she'd smell the awful charring. Lincoln needed a new idle habit. They hadn't been a team all that long and were still figuring each other out. Except….Lincoln. They had started to figure themselves out a while before. Daisy felt like she and him could be more together. She shook her head. Couldn't think that. Not during a mission.

She consulted her screen again and stuck out her hand and gestured due east. The team shifted and began walking almost parallel to the crevasse, until it eventually vanished under the terrain.

* * *

"If May pulls one more barrel roll I swear I'll-"

Zephyr One tilted dramatically as it engaged in yet another aerial maneuver. The unfortunate Fitz was thrown against the narrow hallway walls.

"I wish I didn't design this so I could insult the awful practicality," he grumbled, staggering towards the weapons control station in the back.

Static crackled over Fitz's head.

"Fitz! We should have used returned fire a week ago!" May yelled impatiently.

Another vicious tilt had Fitz muttering under his breath,"There'll be return fire when you stop flying the airship like one of your fangled fighter jets." He stumbled into the control area. A quick check showed all the missiles had already been armed from the cockpit. He took a seat in the chair and turned on the weapons targeting system.

He whistled as the targeting display lit up like a Christmas tree.

"We're in for a bad time."

"You could say that again." May commented darkly.

* * *

"WOOOO!"

The team raced along the relatively flat surface in an arrowhead-like formation. In the ten minutes they had traveled by snowmobile it felt like they had covered far more ground than their 3 hour trek. They had warmed up a little in the container and eaten some more of the energy bars Simmons had packed. "Science tastes delicious." Lincoln had remarked.

Of the three, Joey perhaps had been the most excited for the snowmobiles. He had had a thing for motorcycles in his civilian life. "How much of a difference could there be?"

Starting the vehicles had been no problem. They all easily slung their well-insulated frames over the seats and revved up the engines. Daisy herself felt reinvigorated with the wind speeding against her mask, pressing against her body. The cold hardly bothered her now. If Donnie was out here they'd find him.

* * *

"Any word?"

The simple question was enough to make the Giyera fear for his life. He'd go clean after this job he told himself. He'd had enough of answering to powerful and terrifying people. If the word person could even apply to whom he was speaking with.

"Our scanners can't get through the weather properly, but our knowledge suggests SHIELD can't either."

"So send a team to the ground to recover the boy first."

The agent bit his lip. The entire time he'd been talking to the back of a high leather executive chair. There was a desk separating the two in the moderately ornate though dim lighted room. The shadow from the chair was covered the desk and all the way up to the doorway behind him in grim lighting. He wondered if it was intentional.

He got bolder with indignation, "We don't have the resources. Getting that squadron to go rogue itself ate up any influence we might have had!"

He wondered if he had gone too far. He could almost hear the deliberation in every word as the voice from the chair considered.

"Make the influence."


	4. Pursuit

**Summary: The remnants of S.H.I.E.L.D. face more powerful threats with each passing day. In an attempt to even the odds, agent Daisy Johnson has started to form a team of fellow Inhumans to help take down larger threats. Possessing powers that they've only begun to control, the Secret Warriors search for other Inhumans, before they meet a worse fate at the hands of their enemies…**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or any of the characters used.**

* * *

 _ZOOM!_ The team zipped across the ice with the speed and precision of the arrow theirformation resembled.

Daisy felt her body humming with the bike, the rumbling of the ice in response, and the quivering heart beats of Lincoln and Joey a half dozen feet from her. Vibrations. Kind of her thing.

Joey felt the constant sting of the slivers of ice across the left side of his face as the wind roared over them from the east. It barely broke his concentration though, as he focused on the blades of the snowmobile, constantly changing them for the most efficiency. The feet of the vehicle melted in and out into various rectangular shapes, their tips changing ever so slightly by fractions of degrees.

Joey needed the practice. Between Daisy the Shield agent and Lincoln the Inhuman doctor he felt like the least experienced member of the team. He was the newest. At first he'd been excited about how much easier his construction job would be with his powers, then he'd stopped those bullets from hitting Daisy and he realized there was a lot more to the world than just building new things. Sometimes it was about protecting what was there from what shouldn't be.

* * *

"They're too close. If we fire now we'll blow ourselves up!" Fitz exclaimed through the cockpit intercom.

"I never thought I'd regret the day I chose to fly with heavier ammunition." May muttered hopelessly.

Fitz swiveled to take in the 270 degree screen. His finger pulsed on the controls for Zephyr's air-to-air defenses. At least five of the Quinjets were hovering within a dozen feet of either wing, grounding the plane on course, unable to safely turn. A sixth dropped below out of his side camera views. Fitz switched views to the tail and caught a glimpse of the signature black and red paint as it moved to the more vulnerable engines. He watched in despair as the enemy aircraft unloaded hundreds of rounds a second into the belly of his plane.

* * *

May groaned. Dozens of sensors flashed red in her cockpit. The noise was deafening.

"Oh dear," muttered Simmons, strapped into the seat behind her.

"Seal all the compartments we can. If the exterior is breached we can't risk the whole plane decompressing." Ordered May, tightening her grip on the controls.

* * *

The overhang was small compared to the few they had seen earlier. The only reason they'd found it was that it had come up on Zephyr One's scans as a different density than the snow and mountain above it. They had come to a smooth sliding stop, turning their snowmobiles to the side against the back wall.

The trip had been faster than they expected, but the temperature had decreased far more than it should have as they got closer to the blinking dot on Daisy's display. Far more. They parked their vehicles as deep as they could under the overhang to protect them and took out their supplies. Daisy set up her laptop again, concentrating more closely on its reports.

"-120 degrees Fahrenheit." She read out loud in disbelief.

"I know we're in Antarctica and all, but this doesn't seem..."

"We're close," Daisy muttered, hugging her free arm to her chest, the other holding setting up her laptop. The temperature is at least three times colder than average for the area, and it's not windchill. The overhang was protecting them for the moment, but the wind that did get in wasn't helping. Outside was a moving, pure white, curtain of shards. She looked over at Lincoln and Joey. Their eyelashes had taken on a ghostly white where their masks weren't covering. All of them were shivering. Their body temperatures had plummeted to just above hypothermic levels, and it was getting colder. They didn't have long before they dropped like the snow around them.

Lincoln had cleared the ground cover from a small area and worked fervently to set up a fire. He set down some of their extra blankets to separate the kindling from the frost. He kept sparking them with a touch of his fingers only to have it go out from drafts of wind.

Joey was unpacking everything off the snowmobiles. Lincoln and Daisy blinked quizzically, struggling to focus on what he was doing. Joey sighed, clouds emanating from his mouth, and took a deep shuddering breath, stretching out his hands and concentrating. The snowmobiles' forms liquified into a puddle on the floor before rising up into a wall sealing the overhang off from the outside blizzard.

It went dark for a moment inside their campout before she could see his face in the amber light radiating from the center of the space. Lincoln grinned, dropping an ember into the center of the wood pile. They had warmth. Daisy struggled closer and collapsed near the fire. Joey did the same.

* * *

Gideon Malick, former world council member, high government official, last head of HYDRA, and very, very afraid.

For the first time, Malick was unsure of HYDRA's supremacy. He was unsure of just how much the new S. .L.D. knew about the extent of his operations. All he knew was that sitting here at this conference table, talking to some of the most powerful men in the world, he felt far more insignificant than he should have… After spending billions to formulate a plan and centuries of attempts he thought the world could finally transcend into a new Age. And yet, he could have made his life a whole lot easier, his children's lives, and their children's lives by _not_ forming an army. But he had to. For the sake of the safety of the world.

"Mr. Malick?"

The question broke into his thought process, of whether he _could_ pursue the situation.

"Yes?"

"Should we close the North African offices as well?"

He snapped back into business mode, "Close them all."

"But sir..."

"Phil Coulson can never be allowed to find out what we have. Close the offices, and burn them to the ground."

"As you wish, sir."

Gideon would need the money he could gain from the insurance claim. He had a S.H.I.E.L.D team to outpace.


	5. Shots fired

**Summary: The remnants of S.H.I.E.L.D. face more powerful threats with each passing day. In an attempt to even the odds, agent Daisy Johnson has started to form a team of fellow Inhumans to help take down larger threats. Possessing powers that they've only begun to control, the Secret Warriors search for other Inhumans, before they meet a worse fate at the hands of their enemies...**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or any of the characters used.**

 **A/N: It appears we have deviated significantly from Show-canon after recent developments. The story will continue on unaffected.**

* * *

"Do you ever think we're doing the right thing?"

"What?"

"Nothing."

Getting the energy drills out of storage had been easy. Getting them to work again hadn't been difficult either. Smuggling them to Antarctica with a bare-bones crew to operate them? Harder.

The two HYDRA officers sipped their scalding watered-down coffee as they watched the massive drill in the distance continue to bore into the ice. The whine was deafening. Even in their ultra-padded tents, the noise was starting to have an affect on the overall irritability of the crowd.

"Think we can give the drill extra time to cool down?"

"Whatever heat is generated by drilling through permafrost, I'm sure the cursed wind chills it faster."

The hand not holding his coffee slipped underneath the strap holding up his assault rifle.

"I'd do anything for a few extra layers."

Near the drill, quartet of hooded black figures were checking wires and monitoring equipment. They had kept the drill running for several hours more than it was supposed to. Safety mandated they turn it off. Time constraints had mandated otherwise.

* * *

50,000 feet above the Southern Ocean, Zephyr One rocked side to side as it was assailed by its attackers. The occupants of the craft were huddled in the cockpit, searching desperately for a way out of their precarious situation.

May groaned, "Fitz! What do we still have?"

"They managed to take out the comms, damaged hangar doors..." Fitz muttered as his eyes flew over the lights on the instrument panels, "Weapons compartments are sealed tight, radar was brought inside the plane..."

"What didn't we seal?" May said tersely.

Fitz froze as his eyes came across a single green light, "Th-the Containment unit. We can still deploy it!" Fitz's mind started racing through the possibilities.

"We can't _abandon_ the plane!" Simmons objected, shocked.

"We'll be an easy target," May added, as she kept a firmer grip over the plane's controls. She winced as the plane shuddered after the loss of a tertiary engine.

"Not as an escape pod. Our weapon doors are sealed, but the containment unit can still be dispatched. The project I was working on for Lincoln..we'd need to turn the Zephyr upside down to deploy it from the right angle but-but if we could get it right in the center of their squadron…it'd act as a massive EMP." Fitz explained as quickly as his speech would allow.

Lights continued to flash throughout the cabin. The sound of metal ricocheting metal had gone on for at least a minute. Zephyr One's flight stayed on course. So far. A testimony to the ingenuity of its design.

May gritted her teeth, considering. She tapped the joystick, "How can we get out the blast range?"

"The engines. We have more of them then they do, " Fitz said his voice growing even quicker, "They're stronger than the quinjets and they're flying right above and below them. Right now they're angled for horizontal flight but-"

May cut him off, "Go!"

Fitz rushed out of the cockpit, Simmons following.

Fitz had his hands in his pocket walking out the door, his mind was working out radiuses, thrust, how to account for the plane's forward momentum. Literal rocket science, startled only by Simmons expectant look as they reached the back of the plane.

"We need to reverse the thrust so the Containment unit can still deploy after we make the flip." Fitz said with a tilt of his head as he kept walking past by the module.

Simmons took a deep breath, "Okay."

She knelt down and examined the four rockets with a nearby tool set and began to calibrate them to fire in the opposite direction. Fitz had hurried over to his work station and pulled out a rectangular package about the size of a duffel bag full of exposed multicolored wires and metal. Simmons thought she saw him grin briefly before she cracked her fingers and got to work.

May glanced at the status report. They weren't far from breaching the outer skin of the plane. _Let them breach it,_ she thought. It was a good thing the weapons compartments were sealed. If those explosives were hit while they were still on the plane…

Fitz ran over to the containment module, lugging the improvised EMP behind him. Simmons had just finished removing the hexagonal panels from the walls that would otherwise dampen the blast if not suppress it entirely. Fitz slotted the bag inside, tying it down with ropes and setting a detonation timer.

May's fingers gently adjusted the noggles as she worked out the right angles for the maneuver she was about to pull. Her shoulders were tense, the only thing about her posture that gave away her true emotions. The view straight ahead was all clouds and glimpses of the sea far below. Her line of sight was rocked sideways as something big hit the side of the plane. She cried out in surprise.

"Ready!" Came Fitz's voice.

More alarms blared. The cockpit was a fireworks display on July 4th. Automatic status reports came pouring in. Several of the lower personal storage areas had just been exposed to open air. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw the ghost of a missile trail. More would follow. She cracked her neck, and firmly pressed the master override for the alarms to turn them off. May didn't need any more motivation.

Instead of switching from vertical to horizontal flight, something she'd done hundreds of times, she was going to use the engines as a weapon. Same set of actions though. In one fluid movement she surged power to the engines, rapidly flipping up switches and skillfully angling all dozen of the Zephyr's secondary engines. May allowed herself a small smile as she heard the satisfying sound of the fans winding up from the very heart of the plane.

A huge _WOOMPH!_ followed, directly aimed at the unfortunate tailgaters.

The Quinjets were pushed backward in a starburst pattern, some, May noted with a grim satisfaction, colliding into one another.

Zephyr One flipped in a matter of seconds with the sudden power of the additional engines. May blinked to regain her bearings, correcting her posture. She glanced down at the control panel screen, navigating through the menu upside down, hoping FitzSimmons had done their part, before activating the containment unit's launch sequence.

FitzSimmons had been thrown a half dozen feet against what had been their roof when the plane had flipped. The workstations were scattered, sending hand tools and lab samples everywhere. The grey metal walls amplified the noise, and provided a contrast to the two white lab coated bodies on the floor. The containment unit fell with a heavy thump next to them, upside down with the rest of the room. The floor, above it, was sliding open, ready to receive the improvised bomb.

Had this been any normal day, the large rectangular box-not unlike a shipping container- would have dropped with gravity towards the earth below before flying back on board later with its onboard rockets.

But with the rockets reversed and the plane itself upside down, the module was preparing to launch straight up into the air.

Fitz climbed over Simmons, protecting her with his body as the inverted rockets of the containment unit fired, launching upward and leaving scorch marks across the 'floor'.

Fitz thought he could see a glimpse of blue sky and clouds above him as the EMP detonated amongst the regrouping Quinjets.

* * *

"Gideon's claiming insurance funds." Coulson spoke softly from the edge of the desk.

Talbot glanced at the news playing in the background, showing a burning building and falling stock prices.

"Think there's anything I can do about it?" Talbot remarked with an uncharacteristic somber tone.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't a legitimate organization anymore. We don't have the resources and we don't have the manpower. All I'm saying is, whatever he's about to do, it'll be big. We need all the assistance we can get."

"As much _fun_ as it would be we can't just roll in tanks to every residential hotel on the continent, Coulson. You want to file a report of insider trading, that ain't my department.I make a move at him unsubstantiated and I am _done_ for."

An old fashioned cord phone next to Coulson's sleeve rung twice. He picked up the red handset and listened for a few moments.

"We could certainly do something about the military aircraft that just crash landed off the coast of Australia,with flight plans for the last known location of six of my agents."

Talbot shook his head, "Lack of resources my ass!"

* * *

The Secret Warriors crawled on their bellies in the snow, trying to minimize the chances of them breaking the ice. Daisy first, followed by Lincoln and Joey, had felt the ground rumble underneath their feet an hour earlier. When they both looked expectantly to those nut-brown eyes, she could only reply that it wasn't her.

They were 150 meters out, when Lincoln spoke under his breath.

"Someone was drilling through the ice."

"Bit too close for comfort." muttered Joey.

"Zephyr's scans reported this are clear, right Daisy? Daisy?"

"Daisy?"

The two looked at each other over there binoculars.

"I thought she was lying next to you."

A loud crack echoed behind them, sending both of them reaching for their ICERs and jumping to their feet. Their backs inched towards each other as they aimed into the darkness infused falling snow.

Two bodies slid toward them, HYDRA's symbol prominent on their chest. Their breathing was shallow, their hands were bound.

"They were coming around us. Sent their snowmobiles into the water and Iced them." Daisy emerged into Joey and Lincoln's' vision, hands raised.

"What's our play here?"

"We were the only ones this half of the continent!"

"Clearly not."

The team bickered about what to do, keeping their faces low to protect from the wind.

"Why would they have been here?"

"I doubt it was to build a snowman." Daisy commented half-heartedly. Her operation was going downhill fast.

"Any contact with Coulson?"

"No connection."

"Zephyr One?"

"Nada."

"Let's assume the worst. What would they want with Donnie Gilligan?" Lincoln questioned.

"He was HYDRA's guy when I shot him," Daisy confessed trembling, "They can reactivate his brainwashing if they find him."

The team grew somber at the implications of the statement.

Joey gestured to the resting figures beside them, "If they were here they must have known something."

Lincoln cracked his neck before letting a small charge arc across his palm as he loomed over the quivering agents.

"Why don't we find out?"


	6. Downed

**Summary: The remnants of S.H.I.E.L.D. face more powerful threats with each passing day. In an attempt to even the odds, agent Daisy Johnson has started to form a team of fellow Inhumans to help take down larger threats. Possessing powers that they've only begun to control, the Secret Warriors search for other Inhumans, before they meet a worse fate at the hands of their enemies...**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or any of the characters used.**

* * *

Six hours later, Coulson was aboard the Lemurian Star, only a few hours away from Zephyr One's distress call.

Coulson was standing in the bridge, acting the part of a U.S. Security expert to no less than five countries. Talbot, also representing the United States, was doing most of the talking.

"Obviously this was a massive breach in security," he started, gesturing wildly to computer logs and timecards.

"Yes and we're very interested in making sure it doesn't happen again." Coulson added.

"How do we know other forces haven't been infiltrated?" Came the firm voice of T'Challa, the new ruler of Wakanda, an up and coming force in worldwide affairs.

"We're working on it." Talbot shot back,"Until then double down on your safety protocols."

One by one the screens faded to black, and Coulson sighed and walked outside, watching as the battleship pulled the remains of the aerial assault craft out of the water. He hadn't heard from May in over 24 hours, since he had approved of the mission in their New York headquarters. He only needed to look down for proof that she could handle herself, but was worried nonetheless.

His phone beeped in his pocket. Curious, he wasn't expecting any messages. He pressed his thumb over the screen and it came alive with a repeating message in short and drawn out beeps.

He grinned.

* * *

Fitz counted at least a dozen parachutes on the Zephyr's remaining sensors.

He had hard-coded a Morse code distress signal when their first batch of communications had gone out. Now they were getting responses. A United States Navy aircraft carrier had quickly changed course and offered their services and May sent back their current latitude and longitude. Additional ships were being sent to pick up the wreckage and recover the traitorous pilots.

As much as May wanted to immediately turn around and extract the team on the ground, it simply wasn't feasible. They already had had to drop down to lower altitude and poor Fitz had been running around the plane making emergency repairs for the past two hours. They were lucky they had sealed off the lower sections before the missile hit, or else the entire plane would have depressurized. Even still Zephyr One had taken a serious hit. May hoped HYDRA didn't know about the three agents on the ground they had dropped off earlier. If HYDRA did, that the three Inhumans could take care of themselves.

Simmons was pouring over Daisy's last recorded location with Fitz kneeling in the background working at a panel as she tried again to simulate the Inhumans' progress and their condition based on their bio readings.

"If worse comes to worst, they only have enough time for twelve hours," she said, her head in her hands. "It's been four since we were attacked."

Fitz put down the wrench and looked up.

"They'll be fine." He started coolly.

"No they won't!" Simmons nearly screamed. "The last reported temperature from her laptop before we went and got our Comms blown out was nearly twice as cold as the average temperature of the area! The one we prepared for."

"Well, then they've found him right? Gilligan was all about making things cold."

"I don't think they'll be able to capture him if they're cold, dead bodies," came the matter of fact response.

Fitz looked at his tablet for the list of remaining repairs, before setting it down. He almost responded before he got a look at the expression on her face. Her pose was ragged, her pale skin several shades darker. He rose shakily to his feet, his charred shoes crossing the lab strewn with debris and sat down next to her. Fitz gingerly put an arm around her and sat quietly while Simmons rested her head on his shoulder. Their coats were both tattered, partially burnt, and their hair was equally messy. Still they remained the most attractive person in the world in the other's eyes.

"I know you're worried. We just have to trust them. I'll get us flying back soon Simmons." Fitz whispered into her ear, before continuing, "and your synthetic fiber design would keep them warm even if the temperature was five times as cold."

"I hope you're right."

"I've always been right."

* * *

Lincoln's hand cackled with the charge as he brought them down on either side of the man's abdomen. He gasped awake, and tried to move away. A task he found difficult with his own rope, ice pick, and gun having been melded together and stuck deep inside the ground by Joey. There was no chance of him being knocked over or him moving away. He was chained sitting up, his hands behind his back and his legs straight out in front of him, the black outlines standing out against the white surface.

"Where's Tom?" the agent gasped out, still straining.

"He didn't make it." Lincoln was stone cold.

There were few times Daisy had been scared in her life and this was one of them. Lincoln's face was lit up and shadows formed at crazy angles from the lightning arcing all across his body. The death hadn't been his fault, Daisy had shot too many ICER rounds into him out of surprise and the overload had left him unable to be revived. An extremely rare occurrence. But one that left only one person left to give up much needed information and Lincoln was feeling the pressure.

Joey stepped up, "Why are you here?"

The lone HYDRA agent strained for breath and shook slightly, still recovering from the shock.

"Why are you here," Lincoln repeated.

"I'd think the restraints are big part of that," their captive looked up with a bloody smile, nothing left to lose.

"Now listen here-" Lincoln started forward, arms glowing bright as he gripped the man's collar and lifted him as much as he could with the restraints. "-either you tell us right now or we kill you, leave your body in the ice, and figure it out on our own!"

He considered for a moment before clamping his mouth shut as Lincoln slammed him back into the icy ground.

Daisy held out a hand gesturing for both of them to stand down, "We need him alive."

She had finished going through his personal belongings and his ID. "Hey, hey, Alex? We're looking for someone, we're not here on some mission against HYDRA."

"Is that so?" Alex questioned.

"I don't care if you have a base out here, I don't care what twisted research you're doing. You're suffering under the same effects we are judging by your equipment. Just tell us what you know. And we'll make sure your people find you."

"The problem with that, unfortunately-" a retching cough broke up his response, "is that maybe you're not here for me, but, I'm here for you." He jerked his body suddenly against the restraints.

Lincoln and Joey surged forward drawing their guns.

Daisy didn't hesitate when she saw what rolled out from under the agent's jacket towards his hands. They hadn't checked him thoroughly enough.

Lincoln didn't even have a chance to react when he saw Daisy's glove focus on him through his visor before he and his fellow SHIELD agent were blasted backward skidding far across the ice.

If Daisy could have heard that distinctly she would have heard the pin of the grenade pulled, and the HYDRA agent's quiet last words to himself, head bowed in the snow, as his slumped form blew up with her standing a half dozen feet away.

Lincoln hit the ground back-first, almost skipping across the ground until he sliding to a stop. He stared blankly at the monotone sky, before jolting upright, trying to rush back to Daisy, unbelieving what had happened.

He staggered over, falling more than once. "Daisy!" He called out, moving away from the blood splattered ground where Alex had been. He kept calling until a familiar voice muttered back weakly.

"You look cute when you're worried." said Daisy, clutching at her side on the ground.

Lincoln knelt down and pulled out the med kit from his pack, instinctively patching her wounds. Her body suit had been shredded by the shrapnel, but it had absorbed most of the shockwave. "That was really stupid." He chided.

"Yeah," she winced, gritting her teeth.

Lincoln shushed her gently and put a blanket over her. "You'll be back on your feet in no time."

Joey appeared in the edge of his vision. Lincoln felt a pang of guilt for not checking on him first, but justified it by thinking it had been better to go towards the most injured first as a medic.

"You okay Joe?"

"I'd say I look better then her," Joey called back, before sitting down heavily with his pack. "There's a storm brewing nearby." he added, softly.

"Let's check there next and then we can leave." Daisy said weakly, "and that's an order."

Lincoln wanted more then anything to refuse. Her safety was more important than the mission, and right now she needed a medical evacuation. But if they didn't recover Donnie Gilligan, HYDRA would, and for everyone's safety it was more important that they stay.

He reluctantly agreed.

* * *

 **A/N:** Big thanks to AFangirlofSorts for beta reading through the newly revised story :)

And thank you, reader.


End file.
